North American Startup Funding Hit Record Highs In H1 2026 As AI Megadeals Dominated

North American venture investment reached all-time highs in the first half of 2026, with U.S. and Canadian startups raising $392 billion, per Crunchbase data. Q2 alone totaled $137.2 billion, lower than Q1 but still the second-highest quarter on record. The central takeaway: record dollar volume came from unusually large rounds, not a broad surge in deal count.

AI was the dominant force behind the totals. Crunchbase reported that about 80% of Q2 investment across stages went to AI-focused startups, with funding to AI categories nearly triple year-ago levels.

Late-stage and technology growth deals attracted around $101 billion in Q2, making the category the main driver of the quarter’s funding total. Anthropic was the largest fundraiser, pulling in $65 billion at a $965 billion post-money valuation, including a $50 billion May round and corporate-led rounds from Amazon and Google.

Anduril Industries also secured a major late-stage round, raising $5 billion in a May Series H financing led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. For investors and founders, the signal is clear: capital is flowing most aggressively to companies perceived as category leaders.

Early-stage investment reached its highest level in more than three years, totaling just over $31 billion in Q2. That was nearly double year-ago levels and up about 15% from Q1, even as deal count fell to the lowest point in five quarters.

Seed and angel funding moved in the opposite direction, totaling around $4.9 billion in Q2. Crunchbase reported that seed investment was down 15% from the prior quarter and down 27% from a year ago, while noting that seed data often rises later as smaller rounds are added.

The quarter was notable not only for funding, but also for exits. SpaceX raised $75 billion in what Crunchbase described as the largest IPO of all time, and its recent market cap was around $2.1 trillion.

M&A activity also delivered a record-setting transaction: SpaceX’s $60 billion acquisition of AI coding tool Cursor and parent company Anysphere. Other sizable deals included Eli Lilly’s agreement to acquire Kelonia Therapeutics in a deal valued at up to $7 billion in cash and Qualcomm’s $4 billion acquisition of AI chip startup Modular.

Crunchbase frames the first half of 2026 as uncharted territory for startup funding, valuations, IPOs and acquisitions. The report notes that Anthropic and OpenAI have signaled intentions to go public at valuations close to or exceeding $1 trillion.

The practical takeaway is that AI is not merely lifting the market; it is concentrating capital around a smaller set of giant rounds and high-profile companies. Watch whether deal count rebounds, whether seed funding catches up, and whether public markets continue rewarding venture-backed AI leaders.